Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The opportunity for young learners to be inspired by our winged ambassadors and our education programs is important to TRC. We are excited to announce that we have three types of scholarships that will make it possible for your school to experience what raptors can teach us about the world we share.

We have scholarships for: Field trip TO The Raptor Center (we call this an On-site program),

Bus transportation TO The Raptor Center, provided by a generous grant from The Donald Weesner Foundation,

And a scholarship for The Raptor Center to come to YOU (we call this an Off-site program), provided by generous funding by Project Lighthouse.

You can find information, and the downloadable form on our website here.

Our Education Program Scheduling Department can be reached at raptored@umn.edu, or 612-624-2756.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Lois the great horned owl has visited several schools recently.She is transported to her program locations
in her travel crate.She peeked out the
door of her crate recently, and asked to give the latest update on the
construction here at TRC.

Interior framework is going up!

Siding of the new construction; photo taken from side, near parking meters out front of TRC.

“The outer siding for the new housing for me and my fellow winged ambassadors
is very visible from the loading area where I get ready to go to programs.It looks very much like overlapping feathers,
which I approve of, though they are all square and the same color.I much prefer the color, pattern, and shape diversity
of my own feathers.

Siding of the new construction: photo takenfrom parking meters out front. Sun was just coming up!

The roof structure, and outer siding going up.

The framework for our individual housing areas that we call mews seems to be
coming along nicely.I can also see the
shape of the roof that will be over the whole area.The ceilings over the human walkways are
solid.I never minded snow on my head
but I know the volunteers and staff will appreciate not having to knock snow
off of mesh ceilings as they used to do.”

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

We have received 44 wild patients so
far in 2015. We currently have 55 patients. Some of these were
admitted in 2014. Some are in individual patient cages while their
injuries heal. Others are in large flight rooms or in managed
areas for exercise before their release. You can see our clinic patient census weekly on our website here.

The following table shows
the patient census by species:

The Raptor Center
Current Patient Census
(as of February 16, 2015)

Eagles

Bald Eagle

14

Golden Eagle

1

Hawks - Buteos

Red-tailed Hawk

15

Broad-winged Hawk

1

Hawks - Accipiters

Northern Goshawk

1

Cooper's Hawk

1

Falcons

American Kestrel

1

Owls

Great Horned Owl

6

Northern
Hawk-owl

1

Northern Saw-whet Owl

2

Barred Owl

5

Eastern Screech-owl

1

Snowy Owl

3

Great Gray Owl

1

Long-eared Owl

1

Others (Turkey Vulture)

1

As always, we could not do this work without the help of so many. Our volunteers come in on cold, snowy days. And you, our friends, continue to support us with your generous gifts to help us be there for these sick and injured raptor patients.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Have
you ever wanted to express your passion and enthusiasm for raptors in
an artistic way? Do you love art, and want to try drawing and
photographing live raptor subjects?

This workshop, which is
geared for adults and children to experience together, is a perfect way
to weave education and art together. You will be introduced to some of
The Raptor Center's winged ambassador raptors, and then participate in a
discussion of how they fit into our natural world. You will get to
hold raptor bio-artifacts such as feathers and skulls, which are
important objects of natural history. Following the short presentation
on digital photography and then photographing live raptors, the class
will be introduced to the tools and techniques to portray live birds or
bird artifacts. You may find that the class time is not long enough to
finish your artistic piece, but your photos can be used for reference
for your continuing exploration of raptors in art.

Be prepared
to photograph in natural (outdoor) settings, by dressing appropriately
and bringing a camera of any type to capture reference material.

Beginners welcome!

Title:Drawing Together: A Photography and Art Class for Kids Ages 8-15 and One Adult

Dates and Times (each date and time is a separate class; you register for only one class):March 14, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. ORMarch 15, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

You can imagine that many of the 150,000 + people TRC reaches every year with our education experiences have asked some terrific questions about raptors. We wanted to highlight some of those questions with a new series called, "I Wonder. . ."

Stay tuned to our social media outlets for more creative ways to learn together about raptors and the world we share. As we roll out some new features at our Center in the coming year, we look forward to new ways of hearing about YOUR great questions and ideas, and being able to feature YOUR creativity and expressions of your passion for raptors!

Question: Can Bald Eagles Swim?

Answer: Yes, although
some refer to it as paddling or rowing in the water. As fish eaters, bald
eagles occasionally find themselves in the water and unable to take off in
flight. In this situation, they have often been observed to use their wings to
push themselves across the water to shore, where they may take time to allow
their feathers to dry before eventually taking to the sky again.

The National Eagle
Center (http://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/learn/faq/)
says, “bald eagles do not dive into the water but rather skim across the top
catching fish near the surface. During salmon runs in Alaska, bald eagles
have been observed standing on the shoreline and pouncing on salmon as the fish
swims into shallow water. If a bald eagle catches a fish that is too heavy to
lift, it may grasp the fish with its talons and use its wings like oars to swim
to shore.”